Audience: An Artist's Story
by MessengerOfDreams
Summary: A gift to all who have shaped and influenced me as a writer.  Luigi is a passionate musician just starting out. But in rocky beginnings he finds out he can get by with a little help from friends.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Number 10.**

**This is my tenth story, whether in progress or not. (Well, my only two in progress stories are Strings and Words and Action v2.0). This is somewhat incredible. One, with this I've written 10 stories-one of which (Voice of the Mute) possesses a recreation each in different documents of their own. Add in my commission hub, and this is my twelfth document. 12 documents, 24 chapters, 30+ characters, 50 reviews and 86,000 words, not counting this. I've poured my soul into every single word, from my heartfelt pieces to my casual humor, I've created worlds all my own out of the gifts that have already been given to me.**

**Now it's time to give some back.**

**I'd like to state a few things again.**

**I Own Nothing- Truly, I don't own these characters, these elements or anything that Nintendo does, nor do I own the songs, but I thank the artists of all of these elements for their gifts. I am not a musician, but wish I was. You could say I own the stories I create, but I don't like keeping those to myself. I prefer to share it with you.**

**I Regret Nothing- I don't, otherwise I wouldn't be a fanficcer. I've already mentioned my original qualms and doubts before writing/reading fanfiction that it was for obsessive fans with nothing else to do but worship their poster of (insert heartthrob here). Go ahead and slap me, those were unjust perceptions and while there are some people like that, they're few and far between. And I decided that even if what I wrote was bad or revealing, I wouldn't regret it. And I never will.**

**I Let them Forget Nothing- I am legacy. I am a legacy. The sooner I knew that, the better. Really, we will all have a legacy, dead or alive. Dying sort of scares me, which is why I fancy reincarnation, because after all is said and done, deep down, life is beautiful. People are beautiful. Nature is beautiful. The ability to be artists, creators- that's downright beautiful. And I want to meet, keep, influence, love, value, know people throughout my life, so that way when I pass from one life to another, I leave behind a legacy, something for everyone to remember me by so I never truly leave them. Who knows, perhaps one of these days Next Me will consider Present Me a good influence. :)**

**That's my philosophy. Now, as I said, it's time to give back. This is a thank you to all my supporters, and notably is an AU fic. **

**MoD**

**oOooOoooOoooIooOoooOooOo**

**Chapter 1**

**Humble Beginnings**

About fifteen years ago, during one of the darkest times of my life, I fell deeply in love. My love had been around since the beginning of time and will live until the day the world collapses. My love has no physical form, but is gorgeous all the same. My love can be considered promiscuous, as she is with everyone at once, but still loves us all the same, and I still love her. My love is probably the greatest creation of all time, and I will always worship, treasure, love her. And it is up to me to harness, create great things with my love.

My love is music.

Music had always been there, for she loved everybody, and she had always loved me. Yet very few people are intelligent enough to love her back. If no one were to have loved her, she would disappear. Music and I rely on each other to keep each other alive and happy. It wasn't about five years ago, however, until I was courageous enough to start a relationship with her.

That was the day I bought my first guitar.

It had taken me forever to finally learn how to strum the cords and strings with finesse, with the skill of a true musician. But I stayed to it, every day, until I had finished my first melody. One of my favorite songs as well.

_Journal of a Narcoleptic._ Dan Mangan. What a brilliant artist. What a brilliant song, about a hopeless, desperate man captivated by his struggles to even stay awake. Makes you feel lucky. That was probably the hardest first song that I could have done, but I either go big or go home. I'd rather say this was my first cover than, say, Tik Tok.

I never can be jealous of the other people Music loves, because oftentime they are deserving of it as am I. The people who aren't deserving of it are those who toss together a quick rythmn with no effort, skill or talent, just to make a quick buck. Mangan wasn't one of those people, as he never made it big.

I always wanted to make it big, but not for the money, money, money. But because I wanted to profess my love to music with everyone and anyone, and I wanted to show everyone what a true lover of Music was like, and how to truly profess it. I wanted to set the example.

Today is the day I hope to do that in.

Ever since I had covered _Journal,_ I had went into hyperspeed. Not only had I covered other songs- Adele's _Rolling in the Deep, _one of the greatest songs I've ever heard, especially in such a shallow day and age, and _Cousins _by Vampire Weekend- the hardest cover I've ever tried and the one I've done with the most success, I have created my own. I created a small album on my own, some acoustic songs and some with new instruments I have learned like the piano and African Drum. For five years, I have written all my own songs, rewritten them and then rewritten them again. Weeks, months, years of tireless, endless work, sleepless nights. All for her. All for my love.

All for Music.

And today, today was where I was going to perform. There was a local coffee shop that was practically giving away the stage tonight, and I leapt at the chance. This was Crema, the best coffeehouse in the city, and one of the busiest. It was a perfect place to kick off my career, doing what I loved like no one else did.

I was supposed to be there at seven. I was ready to leave my house at five. I had to restrain myself, go by Music Millennium and spoil myself by buying a new CD to distract myself. Lupe Fiasco's _Lasers_ was out, and I had meant to get that anyways. I know I seem like I'm product placing with my name dropping, but the truth is, I just want to give these artists their due.

On my way out, on a whim I purchased an album in the indie section, where I could find the local bands. I find an album cover that is starkly visible. One half is a blank white, and the other pitch black. The cover has in black and white words "DarkLight." Just on the cover itself, I buy the album. It already had my interest.

Around six, I left the store, despite the fact that Crema was literally six blocks away. I drove up and spent the upcoming hour getting set up, getting into the details to justify being there so early with only a guitar and African Djembes drum in tow. To alleviate their looks, I bought myself a large house steamer, and they didn't seem so worried after all.

Finally, people started to enter the coffee shop, and seven o'clock rolled around. I eagerly got up on the small, wooden stage, trying to remind myself that I was a professional and needed to act like one.

I took a seat on the stool and took the microphone, announcing to the crowd of about forty "Hello, everybody. I'm Luigi Segali, and I'm pleased to be playing for you all tonight."

Everybody looked at me intently, and I simply said "Well, let's get right down to it. My first song is called 'Words and Action.' Enjoy." What can I say? I was an understated performer. As I strummed the first few notes of my original song, I let the lyrics shine.

_I've always been so tightly plated,_

_overstated, underrated,_

_never letting down my guard in case it runs away_

_I've never been so optimistic_

_so linguistic, idealistic_

_until the epiphany hit me on this rainy day_

I saw people raising their eyebrows and shrugging amongst themselves. I had to spare a slight grin. Using words no one else did was one of my biggest habits. They seemed to understand it, though – I don't go all on them- they just seemed to be wondering why I was using such big words. That's just the way I tread. As I strummed a new set of tones, they'd probably be fortunate enough to understand these words of the bridge.

_When I talk with you, it feels like I'm brand new_

_And talking about things isn't what I'd normally do_

_Your way with words has turned my vocab up on its head_

_Now I'm saying all the words I never thought I'd said_

I grinned as I approached the chorus, trying to mask the excitement in my voice. To everyone's surprise, I kept one hand on my guitar, strumming the chorus, and on the other I played a soft beat on my drum. It had taken me a month to get that down and it was working perfectly.

_Feeling downright unpretentious_

_Girl you knocked me to my senses_

_Feeling effervescent at the soft sound of your voice_

_Formerly I was so scary_

_But the words in your dictionary _

_Have left me feeling I don't need a choice_

_But all the words in the world _

_They could never get through the way I feel about you_

I was over the moon at this point. As I went into a guitar solo, I thought about how terrific it was that I finally had performed, gotten my art out there.

And then the first person left the shop.

I noticed but thought nothing of it, hoping this wouldn't be a start as I continued.

_I've always been so forthright_

_fists always up, looking for fights_

_never letting anyone work their way into my life_

_I've never been veracious_

_Now I'm feeling so vivacious_

_What you've done for me, oh it has taken all my strife_

Oh, God, was that someone else walking away? Damn it! I tried to hide my frustration as I went on.

_Run across the Great Wall and then jump over the moon_

_Climb the Eiffel Tower and then run off with a spoon_

_Those dogs can laugh all they want 'cause I'm beyond what they say_

_I'll fiddle through the strings of time so next to you I can lay_

As I noticed three people more walking out, I decided to tune them out to cure my nerves. Throughout the rest of the song I closed my eyes and didn't look to see who left and who stayed.

_Running through all time and space_

_Looking death straight in the face_

_Lasso up the galaxy and pull it to my feet_

_I'll destroy all wrong creation_

_Throughout all my life's duration_

_And to a common ground get all the life in world to meet_

_But all the actions in the world_

_They never could amount to the way I feel about you._

More chairs clattering. More people leaving. I tuned it out.

_I guess above all_

_what I'm trying to say_

_it can't quite be measured_

_because I've never felt this way_

I put all my strength into the chorus, hoping to god I can save myself.

_I would go and buy you flowers_

_Sit on the phone with you for hours_

_Hold you in the moonlight and wipe the tears off your face_

_I never thought I'd be so taken_

_But now I know I'm not mistaken_

_By your side is where I know I'll always take your place_

Putting all my strength into the instruments on my last notes, I couldn't help but feel absolutely weightless, satisfied as I finish up. This is what I always wanted to do; to share my work, my creation, my love with people.

_All the words in the world_

_and all the actions I can do_

_they aren't all that needed_

_as long as I can stay true, and stay in love with you._

I finished, satisfied, and opened my eyes to the crowd, hoping for the best... and receiving the worst.

No one's there.

And I'm not saying it like _the crowd became occupied with other stuff _or _most of them left. _

There's not a damn soul there.

I looked around, dejected, to see if there's even one person there, just one. At the very least, I got that. On a far away table I see a man, a short man of about five feet with short, raven hair and dark, formal clothing sitting and looking intently at me. It takes all my willpower not to drop my guitar and run over, but I gently set it down and walk over politely.

Trying not to go crazy, I extended out my hand and say "It's great to see that you stuck around."

The man gave me a slight smile and in a deep, gravelly voice, says "I'm Meta Knight. A pleasure to meet you," after accepting my handshake.

"An interesting name," I point out cordially.

"Indeed," he replies. "I get that quite a bit." He motioned for me to take a seat, which I did. "I must say, these fools didn't know what they were missing. I thought you pulled off that song expertly, with your words and the dual instruments." With a dramatic sigh, he added "It's annoying how hard it is to interest people if it's not manufactured pop music. Don't be discouraged, though. My start was equally as hard."

"Your start?"

"Indeed," he said with a grin, flipping a small spoon in his coffee cup. "I'm a small-time local indie musician. You're pardoned if you haven't heard of me."

"I haven't," I admitted.

"Nor have I you, so I can't exactly complain," Meta replied, "not that I would. I have a good time playing as it is that often I see that people are secondary."

Before I could answer, someone ran in the door (imagine the irony there) and into the main hall. A young woman, about as tall as I am. She wore a bright blue shirt and a long, blond ponytail. She took a quick scope of the room and sighed. "Blast. I missed it. And... wait, where in the hell did everybody go?" Her voice was smooth, low but not deep, strong but not masculine. She looked at me and sighed, taking a seat of her own. "I... apologize for taking off halfway like that. It turns out I left my keys in the car. But I'm really sorry that I missed it. It was good from what I heard, and I thought there'd be more."

"It's all right," I replied, and to prove my point I made sure not to look away, because that's a bona fide sign of dishonesty from where I sit.

She sighed again and put a hand through her hair, letting it out of her ponytail and ascend down her shoulders. "It's just... it's not right, you know? Leaving during the first song, all at once? Even if you were bad, and you weren't, I'd at least have the common goddamn courtesy for a second or third song! Bah, I hope they enjoy their Ke$ha. Rubes."

She extended a hand and said "Oh, I'm Samus Aran. I'm in a duet with Meta here. He's mentioned about us?"

"Oh, yes, I have," Meta replies with a small smile. "I didn't mention the title, perhaps why you haven't heard of us. We're a little ditty called DarkLight. Just released our first album," on that I raised my eyebrow and grinned as he finished with "but I'm not here to product place. Have you put out an album yet?"

I shook my head and said "No, actually. I'm doing some performances before I release it. Wanted to get some attention. An album's no good if no one hears it, right?"

"Well," Meta lifted up his small plate and walked towards the bus bin to deposit them, "I find that even an audience of one makes it all worthwhile."

Samus nodded with a smile. "Hey, to make up for it, how about I buy you a drink, in an offbeat sense of the word, right here before you jet? My treat!"

I wasn't thirsty, but the spirit in her words persuaded me to nod. She gave me a wider smile and laughed. "Great! Now what shall it be, Mr. Segali?"

"Hah, call me Luigi!" I told her as I joined her up at the stand. I guess in a way, this was all worth it. Sure, everyone else in the audience gave me the finger but these two... I have a feeling I'll like them. This looks to be the start of good things. Not something one usually says after having almost an entire audience leave you, but Meta was right, an audience of one made it all worthwhile.

I can't wait to try it again.

**Well, that's Audience of One. As you can see, it's a tribute. A thank you. And if you look closely, a retelling. But you knew that.**

**You see, I was gonna keep this a secret, but you all deserve to know. This is going to be a short story retelling of my time on Fanfiction, materialized into the real world and in music, something I love but don't do. (But, for those who care, the lyrics to _Words and Action _the song were all mine. XD) So, for those curious, I'm taking the Fanficcer who impacted me, taking the smasher they make me think of (whether by their best work or by their personality, favorite character or a combination of the three.) **

**Luigi=Me/MoD**

**Meta=Shockwave, my first reviewer**

**Samus=Kattheamazing, one of my first good friends and first reviewers**

**So, happy birthday to all who impacted me! XD This is your gift, your tribute! (of course if you have birthdays I promised gifts to, you'll get that too.) I reckon this will take five chapters which I'll spread out through my sabbatical, but you know me and chapter length, eh, Foxpilot? XD**

**So, thank you all! This one's for you!**

**MoD**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Sorry to keep you waiting! ~Pit**

**So, yeah. There are no excuses, I just drew a blank. I'm still sort of blank but it's working itself out. Great to see I'm getting fans!**

**Jimbo- no srsly? I was that naïve? Damn! I deserve a medal! I'll go edit that part up! As of now, Luigi's been in music for 5 years. Maybe longer. Wowwwww. I cannot get over that, just wow. XD On the bright side, I'm laughing about it now! As for the lyrics, I thought they were to a rhythm, or something. Ah, well. I'm not as musically intelligent as I like to think. But thanks for the praise! Thanks to everyone for the praise, especially Kat for such an extensive review despite her computer trying to pimp her! **

**Keep in mind, Kat/Soundwave have never done a collaboration and I am fictionalizing some stuff here, since it is a story and the fact that I'm not in music makes it fiction in the first place, but there is some truths to my career in there. Also, I'm going present tense for this story due to instinct. First chapter will be edited to fit the same when I'm not feeling lazy. Hope you don't think I'm being passive with this story- like I said, I totally fell into a blank with this and I'm eager to work back out.**

**I've already broken my rule of no A/Ns before the chapter enough, let's just get started!**

**Chapter 2**

**In Good Company**

The rest of the night was nice, we simply sat in the empty coffeeshop, having nice conversation, and trade business cards before I head home.

I never mention that I had bought DarkLight's album to either Meta or Samus, but I listen to it on the way home from Crema. Boy and howdy, the most amazing music seems to be where you last expect to look. However, I am in that place people last expect to look, so it's good to see I'm starting to find my comrades who are down there with me.

DarkLight takes advantage of the deeper, darker sounds from Meta and the light airiness of Samus and throws it into a blender and makes a damn good smoothie out of it. They play with a lot of contrast- sometimes Samus will do the upbeat arranging to Meta's voice, low, contemplative and steady, and in an act of vice versa he will arrange some more profound, slower music to her bright, optimistic lilt- a voice a lot higher than her speaking voice. Another interesting note is for every song composed by one of the two, the singer also does the lyrics. They play off of each other well.

My favorite track is the duet, though, between both of them. It's like a tug of war- Samus' side consists of primarily a high-pitch ukelele and some perky drums, and then Meta will flow to the same tune to a low organ and a percussion line out of a movie score. It's impossible to begin to describe this music through words, but hearing Samus "I walk outside at nine a.m., and I feel like conquering the globe!" facing off against Meta "Open the window at nine a.m., the city noises attacking my ear lobes," it's a mix between comedy and art. Perhaps both. Either way, it's intriguing to hear, and I resolve to listen to it again when I get the chance.

I get home to my small house in Montavilla and almost immediately hit the hay. I need to sleep, process things. Hope to god I don't go crazy.

In the morning, when I've got my head on straight after a fitful night of sleep, I figure it may be the perfect time to take a chance. I resolve to ring them up and ask if they wouldn't mind helping me out with my own music. I'm scared out of my wits that my work may not be good enough just yet, and if I pushed back the deadline they'd be the only ones I can think of who'd even really care.

I lean towards the coffee table, and reach for my phone, but then I draw away. Christ, what if I'm too early off of last night, too eager that things haven't set in? I could be, but right now I just want to start being proactive. I've barely started, and now I wanna really get into business. But I don't wanna be overshadowing the both of them, for Christ's sake!

And so the game goes for the day. Amid normal house stuff that fails at distracting me, I resolve to call their line a thousand times that day. Those silent fears grip me, hold me back before I reach the phone. I'm torturing myself, over and over, until I finally grow a pair and grab the phone.

Before I can do anything, it rings. I about leap a few feet in the damn air before I get the thought to actually _answer _it.

"Hello, Luigi Segali here," I greet whoever this is.

"Ah, hello Luigi! Good to see I have the right number." I instantly recognize the man's voice through the phone, as I spent last night listening to a CD full of it. A few of my heartbeats are absent from work as I reply "Oh... hey Meta!"

"So," he tries to continue on the conversation, but for some reason he seems as nervous as I do. "Samus and I were, uh, wondering if you had any free time, if you would, err..."

He draws a blank. I've already finished my blank, so we're both there in silence when I hear Samus overtake the phone. "Oh my god, seriously, Meta?" she cracks up laughing as I prepare to talk with her. "You act like we're asking him out on a date! Ah, you confound me, love."

I chuckle nervously as she addresses me. "Hey, Luigi, it's good to talk to you!"

"Heh, you too," my response is very klutzy. "I mean, you know, good to... yeah..."

She laughs again. "So, Luigi, long story short, Meta and I would be honored if we could hear some more of your music at our little studio downtown. Maybe work with you, give a fellow some advice should he need it."

Sweet Serendipity. Whoa-oh-oh-oh.

"Wow, you'd be honored?" I'm beside myself, and I start pacing through the house.

"Yep. Honored. We'd like you to."

"Wow, thanks!" I sputter out excitedly. "I-I heard your album last night, and I loved it, and it's just as much an honor-"

She stops me there, and immediately I feel like a fool. "I'm glad to hear that," she chuckles, "but we're just as much a musician as are you. Certainly no deities. Consider it visiting a couple of friends who are honored to have you in their humble abode."

I almost repeat the word out loud, but I am just now starting to feel composed. "So, yeah. I'd love to," I tell them, almost proud that I haven't completely fallen beside myself.

"Good to hear! I'll go ahead and give you the address to our apartment."

"Your apartment? I thought you said..."

"Hah, they're one and the same, Luigi," she explains with another laugh. "Convenient for whipping up a bit of post-game brew, y'know?"

"Ah," I respond lamely before I write down the address she's relaying to me on a sheet of paper. When she finishes, she tells me "So, great to hear! I'll be glad to work with you soon! Tomorrow sound good?"

"Yeah! Yeah, sounds good."

"I'd have invited you over this evening, but my knight in dark armor over here spent the whole day putting off calling you. He thought you'd turn us down or that we were too early. Pah, he needs to live a little."

Wow. This is just...wow. I'm suddenly feeling less stupid.

"Are you talking about me over there, darling?" I hear Meta call in smooth jest.

"Of course I am, Meta," her tone is that of a mock romantic. "I've yet to see the point in that statement, though."

Even though I feel rather intrusive, I can't help but chuckle at their rom_antics. _I hope you have enjoyed that pun.

Samus addresses me one last time. "I'd better go, I have business I must attend to." I can practically hear her sly expression as she murmurs that last line. "Ciao!"

Before I can respond, she's hung up the phone, and I retire to my couch with a dazed sigh. It's just one of those moments where you know that you've made a couple of great friends.

Letting the excitement drain, I pick up my laptop and log into Facebook absentmindedly, looking for something to do. I notice that few of my friends have updated their status, mostly with overdramatic emotional personal stuff that I shouldn't need to hear about because I feel like they're forcing me to intrude on their deepest darkest secrets. Maybe I'm missing the point here...

I also notice that one of my friends has made an update. Next to a :( smile, it has a link to a blog article that reads "Announcement to my fans." This friend is not a musician, so I only assume it's about someone else.

I click the link out of curiosity, and I am led to a musician's website. Another indie musician who I had heard good things about, Sheikah Lao. When I read the top line, I knew that things were pretty serious. And so I kept reading.

**Taking an Indefinite Hiatus**

To my fans, my friends who have stuck with me through thick and thin, it is with deepest sorrow that I announce my hiatus from further music making.

This decision was a very hard one to make, and one that has kept me up at night and brought tears to my eyes, but I have come to realize that the music that I am making my confidence is wavering in. I am not certain if I am satisfied with any of my work and I do not want to put out anything else I am not satisfied with again, so I am taking this time to re-evaluate my life and what I do in it, and what I will do from here on out.

I hope you know how sincerely I thank you for all of your loyal support and that you will not think unkindly of me for my decision.

With love,

Sheikah Lao.

Wow. That's pretty hardcore. I don't know what it'd be like to wake up and lose faith in what you've done. I can't help but feel extremely sad for her, and I decide that while I haven't heard any of her music, I'm going to comment.

I wade through a pretty sizable list of people commenting things like "Nooooooo" or "OMG that's so saad!" "You can't do this! You're good!" and some small comments of support. I don't know if my reply will have any more than a pin drop's worth of effect on it, but not writing anything will change nothing, and so after the whole name/email/terms of services routine, I write.

Dear Miss Lao,

I have not yet had the opportunity to hear any of your music yet, but after reading this, I am very sad to hear what you have been going through. I am not hear to judge you, but as a fellow musician, I know what it's like to make something you look back and you wonder what you were thinking. However, that's simply part of growing as an artist, and all of us have those moments.

Let me tell you a bit about artists that you may not have known. Us artists are creators. We are the ones who have recognized the powers that God has passed down to us to be able to take what he's given us and create something new and unique. We see the world in a way no one else does, because we understand the creation and creativity behind it. Truly, we artists are blessed.

When you have created your art, have you done it from the bottom of your heart? Poured your soul into every note and every syllable you've ever sung? Something tells me that from this letter, you have. And if you have, then your work cannot be truly considered bad. I know what it's like to write something personal and ache about it, or to be embarrassed by it, but that only makes it all the more authentic.

No matter what happens, I wish you the best in your travels out of the world of music, even if I am the one on the outside of the gates wishing you the best in your journey.

Sincerely,

Luigi Segali.

I sigh as I press submit without a doubt in my mind. It's always hard to see someone suffering, especially when you know what they feel, albeit not to as large an extent as myself with Lao. But over the last few days, when I least expected it, I've been given hope. And I'll be damned if I keep it all to myself.

I should know how much it means just to have one helping hand.

**A/N I hope you know to take some of the story thematic with a grain of salt. While I've been working on staying true to Soundwave/Meta and Kat/Samus' personalities in a fresh jamocha blend of souls, some of the occurrences (I'd be damned if Sound was ever a nervous person) are somewhat fictionalized for story purposes, but not massively. Although most obviously, Soundwave and Kattheamazing are certainly not a hipster romantic couple, unless they're not telling me something. XD The characters influenced by them are. **

**And don't you worry, I'm not gonna 'hook up' with any of the other characters influenced my by FF friends. That'd be hella awkward. XD 'ohai thar wanna read the story where you and I are dating oh wait come back!'**

**So, yeah, this is still based off of real occurrences that are happening, i.e. the meeting with Meta/Samus based off of PM conversations/helpful advice traded afterward, and the segment with Lao based off of how I first met a dear friend. I hope she doesn't mind me bringing this up, I mean no harm/defamation, obviously, this is a gift! :D **

**So, yeah, there's chapter two. A bit shorter than anticipated, but I'm easing back into this. I did kind of drop it off in my mind, so I apologize and thank you for the support. This is gonna tell up to the timeline of _Beautiful Imperfections_, I believe. I did want it to be up till fic ten but not much interesting happened past Beautiful. It's still a plan in progress.**

**Hope you enjoyed, my dearest friends!**

**MoD**


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